- Analysts expected an addition of 55,000 payrolls during the month.
- Following the release of the jobs report, President Donald Trump stated that the U.S. should be paying the lowest interest rates on its borrowings since it is the strongest country in the world.
- The report also revealed that while health care continued to trend up in payroll additions in January, federal government jobs declined.
Nonfarm payrolls rose higher than expected by 130,000 in January, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Analysts expected an addition of 55,000 payrolls during the month, according to Dow Jones data cited by MarketWatch. This comes after a lower-than-expected addition of 48,000 jobs in December, revised downward from the previously reported addition of 50,000 jobs.
The January unemployment rate came in lower than expected at 4.3%, below the 4.4% estimate. The unemployment rate in December stood at 4.4%, while it was at 4.5% in November.
Trump Says US Should Be Paying Lowest Interest Rates
President Donald Trump stated in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. should be paying the lowest interest rates on its borrowings since it is the strongest country in the world.
“This would be an INTEREST COST SAVINGS OF AT LEAST ONE TRILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR,” he said.
The jobs report comes nearly five weeks ahead of the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which is scheduled for March 17 and 18. According to data from the CME FedWatch tool, the probability of the Fed keeping rates unchanged has increased to 94.1%, compared to 79.9% a day ago.
Final Benchmark Revisions Released
The BLS also released the final benchmark revisions for the period between April 2024 and March 2025. According to the report, the annual revision showed a downward revision to the total jobs count by 898,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The BLS report also showed a significant downward revision to the average monthly payroll addition in 2025. While the December jobs report showed the average monthly payroll gain was 49,000 in 2025, the January report showed the monthly gain was just 15,000.
This puts nonfarm payroll gains in 2025 at 180,000, down from two million in 2024.
Unemployment Rate Falls Across Most Categories
The unemployment rate fell across most categories in January compared with a month ago. The jobless rate among teenagers was the highest at 13.6%, down 210 basis points from December.
| Category | January 2026 | December 2025 | Change |
| Blacks | 7.2% | 7.5% | -30 bps |
| Hispanics | 4.7% | 4.9% | -20 bps |
| Whites | 3.7% | 3.8% | -10 bps |
| Asians | 4.1% | 3.6% | +50 bps |
| Adult Men | 3.8% | 3.9% | -10 bps |
| Adult Women | 4% | 3.9% | +10 bps |
| Teenagers | 13.6% | 15.7% | -210 bps |
| Overall | 4.3% | 4.4% | -10 bps |
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Health Care Continues To Drive Gains
The BLS jobs report also revealed that while health care continued to trend up in payroll additions in January, federal government jobs declined.
Health care jobs grew by 82,000 during the month, while social assistance saw an increase of 42,000 roles, and the construction sector added 33,000 jobs in January.
Federal government employment declined by 34,000 jobs, while financial activities employment fell by 22,000 jobs.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 15 cents to $37.17. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 3.7%.
Meanwhile, U.S. equities declined in Thursday’s opening trade. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down by 0.25%, the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) fell 0.37%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) declined 0.31%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bearish’ territory.
The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) was down by 0.24% at the time of writing.
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